Energy ministry ‘sold on f-word’

Energy Minister Dipuo Peters. Photo: Thobile Mathonsi

Energy Minister Dipuo Peters. Photo: Thobile Mathonsi

Published May 16, 2012

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The Energy Ministry came out with all guns firing for hydraulic fracturing – referred to cautiously as the “f-word” on Tuesday – as it could help turn around Africa’s energy fortunes, reduce dependence on dirty fuels like coal and create masses of jobs in the Karoo.

It is the strongest signal yet that the government is about to end the moratorium on exploration for shale gas. Last week, Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu promised that the cabinet would decide on fracking by next month.

At an oil and gas conference hosted by Ostrac, an empowerment group involved in gas and oil industry training, Energy Minister Dipuo Peters entered the fray and spoke of the untapped wonders of hydraulic fracturing, which Western Cape Finance, Economic Development and Tourism MEC Alan Winde would only refer to as “the f-word”.

Noting that the International Energy Agency had declared that the world was entering “the golden age of gas” and it was necessary to “enter a conversation… including (about) the f-word”, Peters said she was a member of the cabinet which had decided to place a moratorium on exploration for shale gas but she “wished at the same time” that when the report emerged there was a “safe way of going ahead with this”.

While the report by a multi-departmental task team was still secret, Peters was optimistic it would deal properly with the concerns of water contamination and environmental “considerations” while tapping into the Karoo’s potential, including that relating to tourism.

Exploration work has been halted for nearly 18 months in the Karoo but the minister’s remarks indicate that the government is poised to give the industry a green light with the Science and Technology Department helping to ensure that the controversial procedure uses technology that limits environmental damage.

Fracking involves injecting vast amounts of water deep underground – with various chemicals – to extract natural gas from shale rock. Environmentalist groups such as Treasure the Karoo, headed by Jonathan Deal, have long argued that the process could severely damage underground aquifers in the semi-desert area.

Deal said Tuesday: “One doesn’t have to be a palm reader to know where they’re heading.” In 140 places around the world there were reservations about fracking. And in Romania and Germany, two-year moratoriums were being considered, he said.

Speaking at his farm in the Karoo, Deal said South Africans should not be seduced by promised economic benefits. “We’re not opposed to economic development. We want South Africa to flourish, but it has to be sustainable and sensible.”

Peters, meanwhile, made no bones about her focus on the gas part of the oil and gas equation. Picking up on Winde’s hope that an industrial development zone would be declared by year-end, she said the proposed zone at Saldanha Bay would be a suitable storage hub for liquid fuels.

Working with China, it was possible that Saldanha would become “a halfway storage point for the West (and) a pick-up point for the East”. Oil and gas could be exported to China and other emerging countries from the Western Cape.

Peters added that the government’s growing support for fracking was based on its job potential. She referred to the affect it would have on reducing the number of people on security grant, which is a particular problem in the vast Karoo. The money could be used instead “to support the economy”.

The value of gas exploitation in the US was being felt, said Peters. In Europe and the UK, the gas price had “gone south” at the very time there was upward pressure on the oil price.

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